Flickering Souls

Chapter Two: One Week Before Christmas

"Ha'lo chere." The man sat swathed in shadows.

Rogue jumped and spun to face the voice. He sounded like that stooge of Magneto's, albeit, she had to admit to herself, That cute stooge of Magneto's.

She had been about to scream but he didn't move, and it wasn't who she thought. Or was it?

"Do I know you?" She asked, forgetting for a moment that this was a large, strange and unknown man in her room.

"Yes and No." He said. "You met da Remy who's 'sposed to be in this world." He flashed a dashing smile. "I another one."

"And you're not supposed to be in this world?" She sounded suspicious and looked the part as well.

Gambit chuckled. "Dat's right. And I come to aks you a question."

Rogue looked him over again. He still hadn't moved or made any threatening gestures. "Me?"

He nodded. "You see, I got this friend."

But she cut him off "Magneto?"

He smiled. "No. Not Magneto."

"Are you sure?" She eyed him warily.

"Yes, now I sure. Gambit not your worlds Remy. Okay? Get it strait. I a good guy." He looked imploringly at her.

"Okay." Rogue held up her hands in surrender. "Don't flip out or anything."

"I not Flipping. . ." Gambit stopped, cast his eyes up at the ceiling and took a long slow breath and composed himself. "Where were we?"

"You had a friend who's not Magneto." She hinted.

"Right." Gambit looked at her as thought this point made all that Magneto talk ridiculous.

"Is it?" Rogue prompted.

"Oh, sure. You see, dis friend, once a year, and for Christmas, he like to do something nice for someone."

He smiled and nodded. "Last year, he did something nice for me." He seemed to beam at the memory and briefly, Rogue wondered what it had been.

"And this year, he's got plans to do something nice for someone else – someone who my friend thinks really deserves something nice."

Rogue was falling slowly under his spell. The more he talked, the more inclined she was to just stare let his words flow around her. The rhythm and pattern of his speech were almost hypnotic.

Of course she would really like to help. It's nice to do nice things for deserving people. And for Christmas, it would be doubly nice, now wouldn't it?

And it wasn't really until the man was gone, and Rogue had gone about her day, then fallen to sleep that night, and awoken with the thought "I agreed to WHAT?"

But it was too late. She had signed the contract.

Meanwhile, just down the hall Kurt found himself in a suit and tie – being seated across a negotiation table from another person in a suit.

The other man opened a yellow legal pad and pulled out a pen.

"Okay." The man began. "So tell me – what would you most like to experience on an Earthly level – with no repercussions?"

Kurt considered this. It seemed a totally acceptable question and not at all out of place.

At first, Kurt's thought of Rogue, but lately it seemed that she had finally lowered her defenses and become family. And while he wouldn't trade that for anything in the world, there was no need to explore it in fantasy now that he could do so in reality.

"My dark side." He said at last. "I want to understand what motivates it and maybe – why my mothers darker side has enslaved her." He leveled his gaze across the table.

The man scribbled some notes.

"And in return for this – you would be willing – to sign a waiver?" He asked plainly.

"So long as it's truly … safe." He said at last. "I can't be responsible for doing any permanent damage to anyone or anything." He bit his lip "Or …"

"What else?" The man asked, sensing a contractual point that needed to be attended to.

"I can't be responsible for … I don't vant to know why I would…" He looked frustrated at his inability to express the point.

And a light went on in the other man's mind. "Ahhh… I see. You're afraid that a path to evil will always be open to you from this point on."

Kurt nodded slowly. "That's close to what I mean." He confirmed.

"I think I understand." The man said, scribbling some more notes. "It's a very valid point, considering your interest and opposing occupation." He looked up and snapped his fingers. Another man appeared through a door and snatched up the note pad.

He then disappeared out of the room.

The man capped his pen. "I assure you that in return for your signature, by your journeys end, all shall be as it was before – with harm to none."

Kurt nodded solemnly, but then, his mind turned to Rogue.

"And Rogue, she's really going to get …" He faltered. "I mean, my signing this …"

The man smiled "Yes, we need three signatures – and without all three, no one gets anything. Your signature assures that both your conditions and Rogues will be met."

The man who had disappeared with the pad returned with a newly printed version of the contract and then scurried away quickly.

"So this helps her too." Kurt nodded several times.

"Helps her get exactly what she wants – just as it helps you get exactly what you want." The man nodded.

"Vhere do I sign?" Kurt asked softly.

In response the man smiled and slid the contract across the table. The bottom was marked with a large and obvious 'X'

Rogue jumped out of bed and tore down the hall. Forgetting her manners, she threw open Kurt's door and pounced on the poor, sleeping Elf.

"Kurt." She shook him. "Kuuuurrrrrtttt!" His eyes fluttered and he recoiled in alarm.

"Vat? Vat is it?" He grabbed her by her sleeves and stopped her from moving.

"Kurt?" Her eyes were searching his. "Did you sign the contract? He said he couldn't do it unless all three of us signed. I didn't realize – the THREE of us Kurt. Don't you see? The third one?" He looked lost. "Did you sign the contract?"

"Yes." He breathed. "Just now. But how did you know vat I vas dreaming?"

"That wasn't a dream Kurt." She turned and slumped off the edge of the bed to sit on the floor.

"Vat vas it?" He sounded concerned "Vat's going on?"

"I think we just signed up to do a Remedy=Chill Christmas story." She spit the words slowly.

Kurt's jaw flapped twice as he tried to recall that name. He had heard it somewhere before. "Chill?" He said at last "Like that guy who. . ." But the vision was becoming clear to him.

"Yeah, that guy who wrote Gambit's Terms and rewrote that other universe last year." She sounded disgusted, mostly because the story was always locked in Xavier's safe.

"He fixed it." Kurt reminded her. "No one even knew the difference after."

"Well, they wouldn't now would they?" She cast him a look over her shoulder. "He'd write it like that!"

"And didn't they do something to make sure he wouldn't almost destroy the universe again?" Kurt was starting to feel a little angry about getting woken up in the middle of the night.

"Yeah, they passed a law that he had to get the main character, and two supporting characters, at least two of which had to be hero's to sign permission contracts. They figure that with at least two x-men on the case. . ."

"That someone would catch it? How could ve be so stupid?" He looked at her in disbelief. "Did you even look at a script?"

She swallowed once, smiled sadly, and shook her head, side to side.

"Dis is vat we get for reading the Professor's confidential files last week."

Kurt suddenly brightened. "But vait, there's still a chance, right, a third contract?"

Rogue looked more alone and unreachable than Kurt had ever seen her. "Who in Bayville do we know who would contact a renegade author, endanger the very fabric of our reality, AND want you and I to round out a Christmas story?"

Kurt searched her eyes but the answers weren't there. No one came to mind because his mind refused to drift beyond the mansion walls.

"Who?" He asked, shaking his head in confusion.

And suddenly, Rogue didn't want to tell him. She wanted to shoulder the burden and protect him the way he would have tried to protect her.

But she couldn't protect him from this. "Kurt. It's gonna be Her. It's gonna be Mystique."